Psychiatry Terms

AddictionAn organism's psychological or physical dependence on a drug, characterised by tolerance and withdrawal.

Adjustment disorder A pathological psychological reaction to trauma, loss or severe stress. Usually these last less than six
months, but may be prolonged if the stressor e.g. pain or scarring is enduring.

AffectA person's affect is their immediate emotional state which the person can recognise subjectively and which can also be
recognised objectively by others. A person's mood is their predominant current affect.

AgnosiaAn inability to organise sensory information so as to recognise objects (e.g. visual agnosia) or sometimes even parts
of the body, (e.g. hemisomatoagnosia).

AgoraphobiaFear of the marketplace literally; taken now to be a fear of public of public places associated with panic
disorder.

AkathisiaAn inner feeling of excessive restlessness which provokes the sufferer to fidget in their seat or pace about.

AmnesiaA partial of complete loss of memory. Anterograde amnesia is a loss of memory subsequent to any cause e.g. brain
trauma. Retrograde amnesia is a loss of memory for a period of time prior to any cause.

Anorexia nervosaAnorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterised by excess control - a morbid fear of obesity leads the
sufferer to try and limit or reduce their weight by excessive dieting, exercising, vomiting, purging and use of diuretics. Sufferers are typically
more than 15% below the average weight for their height/sex/age. Typically they have amenorrhoea (if female) or low libido (if male). 1-2% of
female teenagers are anorexic.

AnxietyAnxiety is provoked by fear or apprehension and also results from a tension caused by conflicting ideas or
motivations. Anxiety manifests through mental and somatic symptoms such as palpitations, dizziness, hyperventilation, and faintness.

AstheniaAsthenia is a weakness or debility of some form, hence neurasthenia, a term for an illness seen by dctors around the
turn of the century, a probable precursor to chronic fatigue syndrome and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).

Bulimia nervosaDescribed by Russell in 1979, bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterised by lack of control.
Abnormal eating behaviour including dieting, vomiting, purging and particularly bingeing may be associated with normal weight or obesity. The
syndrome is associated with guilt, depressed mood, low self-esteem and sometimes with childhood sexual abuse, alcoholism and promiscuity. May be
asociated with oesophageal ulceration and parotid swelling (Green's chubby chops sign).

CompulsionThe behavioural component of an obsession. The individual feels compelled to repeat a behaviour which has no
immediate benefit beyond reducing the anxiety associated with the obsessional idea. For instance for a person obsessed by the idea that they are
dirty, repeated ritual handwashing may serve to reduce anxiety.

ConfabulationChanging, loosely held and false memories created to fill in organically-derived amnesia

CyclothymiaA variability of mood over days or weeks, cycling from positive to negative mood states. The variability is not
as severe in amplitude or duration as to be classified as a major affective disorder.

Dejà vuHaven't you been here before?An abnormal experience where an individual feels that a particular or unique event
has happened before in exactly the same way.

DeliriumAn acute organic brain syndrome secondary to physical causes in which consciousness is affected and disorientation
results often associated with illusions, visual hallucinations and persecutory ideation.

DelusionAn incorrect belief which is out of keeping with the person's cultural context, intelligence and social background
and which is held with unshakeable conviction.

Delusional moodAlso known as wahnstimmung, a feeling that something unusual is about to happen of special significance for
that person.

Delusional perceptionA normal perception which has become highly invested with significance and which has become
incorporated into a delusional system, e.g. 'when I saw the traffic lights turn red I knew that the dog I was walking was a Nazi and a lesbian Nazi
at that'.

DementiaAn chronic organic mental illness which produces a global deterioration in cognitive abilities and which usually
runs a deteriorating course.

DepersonalisationAn experience where the self is felt to be unreal, detached from reality or different in some way.
Depersonalisation can be triggered by tiredness, dissociative episodes or partial epileptic seizures.

DepressionAn affective disorder characterised by a profound and persistent sadness.

DerealisationAn experience where the person perceives the world around them to be unreal. The experience is linked to
depersonalisation.

DyskinesiaAbnormal movements as in tardive dyskinesia a late onset onet of abnormal involuntary movements. Tardive
dyskinesia is conventionally thought a late side effect of first generation antipsychotics, but some abnormal movements were seen in schizophrenia
before the introduction of antipsychotics.

DyspraxiaA dyspraxia is a difficulty with a previously learnt or acquired movement or skill. An example might be a dressing
dyspraxia or a constructional dyspraxia. Dyspraxias tend to indicate cortical damage, particularly in the parietal lobe region.

EcholaliaA speech disorder in which the person inappropriately and automatically repeats the last words he or she has heard.
Palilalia is a form of echolalia in which the last syllable heard is repeated endlessly.

EchopraxiaA movement disorder in which the person automatically and inappropriately imitates or mirrors the movements of
another.

First rank symptomsSchneider classified the most characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia as first-rank features of
schizophrenia. These included third person auditory hallucinations, thought echo, thought interference (insertion, withdrawal, and broadcasting),
delusional perception and passivity phenomena.

Flight of ideasIn mania and hypomania thoughts become pressured and ideas may race from topic to topic, guided sometimes
only by rhymes or puns. Ideas are associated though, unlike thought disorder.

Frontal lobe syndromeThis follows frontal lobe damage or may be consequent upon a lesion such as a tumour of infarction.
There is a lack judgement, a coarsening of personality, disinhibition, pressure of speech, lack of planning ability, and sometimes apathy.
Perseveration and a return of the grasp reflex may occur.

HallucinationAn abnormal sensory experience that arises in the absence of a direct external stimulus, and which has the
qualities of a normal percept and is experienced as real and usually in external space. Hallucinations may occur in any sensory modality.

IllusionAn abnormal perception caused by a sensory misinterpretation of and actual stimulus, sometimes precipitated by
strong emotion, e.g. fear provoking a person to imagine they have seen an intruder in the shadows.

InsightIn psychotic mental disorders and organic brain syndromes a patient's insight into whether or not they are ill and
therefore requiring treatment may be affected. In depression a person may lack insight into their best qualities and in mania a person may
overestimate their wealth and abilities.

Jamais vuAn abnormal experience where an individual feels that a routine or familiar event has never happened before. (See
Dejà vu).

Korsakoff's SyndromeA syndrome of amnesia and confabulation following chronic alcoholism. Short-term memory is particularly
affected.Named after the Russian psychiatrist Korsakoff.

NeologismA novel word often invented and used in schizophrenic thought disorder.

Neuroleptic Malignant SyndromeA syndrome ascribed to neuroleptics. The syndrome includes hyperpyrexia (temperature over 39
degrees Celsius), autonomic instability and muscular rigidity. The syndrom is not dose related and appears to be related to a very wide variety of
substances including antidepressants, antipsychotics and lithium. There is a significant risk of mortality. Whether the syndrome is a variant of
the lethal catatonia syndrome (described before the advent of modern neuroleptics) is a debated point.

ObsessionAn unpleasant or nonsensical thought which intrudes into a person's mind, despite a degree of resistance by the
person who recognises the thought as pointless or senseless, but nevertheless a product of their own mind. Obsessions may be accompanied by
compulsive behaviours which serve to reduce the associated anxiety.

Passivity phenomenaIn these phenomena the individual feels that some aspect of themselves is under the external control of
another or others. These may therefore include 'made acts and impulses' where the individual feels they are being made to do something by another,
'made movements' where their arms or legs feel as if they are moving under another's control, 'made emotions' where they are experiencing someone
else's emotions, and 'made thoughts' which are categorised elsewhere as thought insertion and withdrawal.

PerseverationDescribes an inappropriate repetition of some behaviour or thought or speech. Echolalia is an example of
perseverative speech. Talking exclusively on one subject might be described as perseveration on a theme. Perseveration of thought indicates an
inability to switch ideas, so that in an interview a patient may continue to give the same responses to later questions as he did to earlier ones.
Perseveration is sometimes a feature of frontal lobe lesions.

SchizophasiaA severe form of thought disorder.

Seasonal Afective Disorder (SAD)A form of depressive illness only occurring during winter months, associated with overeating
and sleepiness. Responsive to antidepressants and phototherapy. Little researched and scientifically controversial.

Thought blockingThe unpleasant experience of having one's train of thought curtailed absolutely, often more a sign than a
symptom.

Thought broadcastingThe experience that one's thoughts are being transmitted from one's mind and broadcast to everyone.

Thought disorderA disorder of the form of thought, where associations between ideas are lost or loosened.

Thought echoWhere thoughts are heard as if spoken aloud, when there is some delay these are known as echo de la pensée and
when heard simultaneously, Gedankenlautwerden.

Thought insertionThe experience of alien thoughts being inserted into the mind.

Thought withdrawalThe experience of thoughts being removed or extracted from one's mind.

Word saladA severe form of thought disorder.

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Whilst the world has been quick to respond to the growing threats to the human body , little has been done especially in India, in response to the
afflictions of the human mind.The mentally ill. The emotionally disturbed and those with severe personality disorders bear not only the anguish of
their suffering but also the additional burden of society’s indifference and ignorance.